Paul Steinbach (paul@athleticbusiness.com) joined the Athletic Business staff in November 1999, and now holds the title of senior editor. His work covering college athletics and sports facility operation has garnered several regional and national journalism honors, including a Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award. He is a 1989 graduate of the University of Wisconsin and currently resides with his children Jack and Libby in his hometown of West Bend, Wis. In his spare time, he enjoys mowing patterns into his backyard ballpark — the naming rights to which are still available.

With the NCAA crowning champions in three major sports this week, it's clear which among them reigns superior with the ticket-buying public, as evidenced by the adaptation of the host venue to each sport. In previewing the men's basketball Final Four in Indianapolis, one commentator described Lucas Oil Stadium as "a football stadium built for basketball." With the court positioned dead center on the surface typically occupied by the NFL's Colts, and surrounded by temporary and permanent seating in such a way that the seating chart looked like a study in near-symmetrical arena design, Duke defeated Butler on Monday night before 70,930 fans. That's roughly three and a half times the combined capacities of the combatants' home venues - Cameron Indoor Stadium and Hinkle Fieldhouse, respectively.

To welcome the Major League Baseball season, ABCNews.com today offers its list of "America's 7 Best Ballparks." The subtitle of the piece authored by Scott Mayerowitz reads "These Baseball Stadiums Make It a Great Day Out Whether or Not Your Team Wins."

With the help of expert opinion, Mayerowitz lists "high-end food" as drivers of the gameday experience in today's best parks, and he quotes Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Heyman, who adds of park design, "They've gotten away from the cookie-cutter park, thank goodness."

But I did go to MLB.com and looked up the 2009 home records of the clubs occupying Mayerowitz's magnificent seven to see which fans were most likely to have a great day out AND see their team win.

Red Sox Nation enjoyed the best odds, as Boston won 56 of 81 regular-season games played last year at Fenway Park - the oldest, quirkiest stadium in the bigs. San Francisco fans faired nearly as well, witnessing 52 wins at AT&T Park. Safeco Field in Seattle, Wrigely Field in Chicago, Citi Field in New York and PNC Park in Pittsburgh weren't as hospitable, with home victory totals of 48, 46, 41 and 40, respectively. The club least likely to cap a great day at a great park with a W? The Baltimore Orioles, the only team on the list aside from Pittsburgh with a losing record at home - in this case, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the design of which is often credited with spawning the retro-park revolution in 1992.

The eventual World Champion New York Yankees owned last season's best home record - 57-24 - and their now two-year-old stadium earned an honorable mention from Mayerowitz's experts. The worst home showing, by the way, belonged to the Kansas City Royals, who went 33-48 at Kauffman Stadium, which got no mention from ABC. Built with unique visual amenities (including a centerfield fountain) in the 1970s, the waning years of the - oh, I'll just spit it out - cookie-cutter era, the park has undergone renovation and incorporated ticketing innovation in an ongoing attempt to attract fans.

To what degree a park's appeal actually puts butts in the seats is difficult to pin down, as stadium capacities vary widely, but I checked ABC's list against team attendance rankings anyway. With league-wide attendance down 6 percent last season, none of the chosen parks cracked MLB's top-five destinations. However, Wrigley, Citi (in its debut season) and Fenway followed at numbers six through eight, and AT&T landed in the 10th spot.

PNC Park, meanwhile, saw fewer fans trip the turnstiles than 27 of the league's 30 teams. So when the Pirates host Los Angeles in their home opener Monday, here's hoping fans enjoy the view of Pittsburgh's skyline and riverfront, even if they lose interest in what unfolds on the field.

It was a night of dress blues and olive drab, and ultimately a lot of green. The fifth annual B*A*S*H for MDA's Augie's Quest raised more than $822,000 toward amytorphic lateral sclerosis research Friday during the 29th International Health Racquet and Sportsclub Association Convention & Trade Show in San Diego.

The Americans were handily out shot. They relied on spectacular goaltending. They got some bounces. And, facing intense pressure late, they held on to pull off the upset. I'm not recounting the Miracle on Ice, the U.S. Olympic hockey team's improbable 4-3 victory over the vaunted Soviets in Lake Placid 30 years ago today. I'm talking about Team USA's win over Canada last night in Vancouver. The score of the two games would have been identical, too, if not for a late empty-net goal by the current Americans.

Editor's Note: AB Senior Editor Paul Steinbach authored this piece in January 2010, but with February 22nd marking the 34th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice and the U.S. men's hockey team facing off against Canada on Friday, the message still rings true.

For nearly 30 years now, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team has been an off-and-on obsession of mine.

The college football season reaches its climax tonight when Alabama and Texas meet in the Citi BCS National Championship Game - Pasadena Tournament of Roses. The actual Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi was decided between Ohio State and Oregon six days earlier. Whether or not you consider all of this confusing, it's that four-letter word attached to both the wordier-titled title game and the grander reference to "The Granddaddy of Them All" that most of us should find most annoying, if not outright vulgar.

According to Houston Chronicle business columnist Loren Steffy, title sponsor Citigroup has accepted roughtly $50 billion in U.S. taxpayer money to remain in business, paid less than half of it back, yet continues to underwrite the staging of sporting events. Citigroup also ranks among the nation's top underwriters of private student loans, which Steffy points out are offered to students at adjustable rates that start lower than federally backed student loans, but then balloon typically before they can be paid off. "In other words, a lot of students are getting suckered into paying more than they should for college," Steffy wrote yesterday. "By sponsoring the Bailout Bowl, Citi is using our money to exploit college students."

There’s something about Orlando, Fla., that stirs the nostalgia in this AB Show-goer. It’s where the conference and expo (as it used to be known) was held my first eight years at Athletic Business, and it has been there another four times since. In all, Orlando has served as the annual home away from home for AB roughly half the time in our show’s 35-year history.

The first time I saw Rick Majerus in person, he was sitting in seldom-used end-court bleachers that had been wheeled into position for a Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Class C basketball sectional at my high school alma mater's field house. I was there to cover a game for my hometown newspaper, The West Bend News. Majerus, an assistant coach at Marquette at the time (this was the mid-'80s), was there to scout Kohler, Wis., phenom Joe Wolf, who would eventually attend North Carolina.

Editor's Note: AB Senior Editor Paul Steinbach authored this piece in January 2010, but with February 22nd marking the 34th anniversary of the Miracle on Ice and the U.S. men's hockey team facing off against Canada on Friday, the message still rings true.

For nearly 30 years now, the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team has been an off-and-on obsession of mine.

There's precedent for a Catholic institution sticking with a coach despite his pro-choice stance on abortion. Rick Majerus is in his third season heading the St. Louis University men's basketball program after admitting during a TV interview at a January 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign rally that he is "pro-choice, personally." But will a Catholic institution hire a pro-choice coach? Somehow, during speculation that University of Cincinnati head football coach Brian Kelly is next in line to bear the Notre Dame football cross, the rumor spread that Kelly, an Irish Catholic who decades ago campaigned for Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart, is pro-choice. But no one seems to know for sure. "I searched online media archives all day today trying to find one reputable media reference to Kelly's stance on abortion," read a Tuesday post by Brooks at sportsbybrooks.com. "I found none."

When the AB editors dedicated our July issue to best environmental practices in the athletics, fitness and recreation industries, we managed to overlook one egregious hazard to our planet's health: golf balls.